A local's guide to Marken, the former island
Wooden houses on grassy mounds, a harbour full of brown-sailed botters, and a village that felt the sea in everything it did. Here's what makes Marken special, and how to see it properly.
An island until 1957
For more than 700 years Marken was cut off from the mainland, reachable only by boat, or, in a hard winter, not at all, when the ice was too weak to walk on but too thick to sail through. That isolation is exactly why Marken looks the way it does today. Only in 1957 was a dike built to connect it to the shore, and by then its traditions had already set hard.
Houses on mounds
Because the island flooded regularly, people built their homes on artificial hills called werven. Fifteen of these mounds still survive. Before the Afsluitdijk closed off the Zuiderzee in 1932, climbing to a werf was the only way to stay dry when the water rose. The disastrous flood of 1916, which killed sixteen people on Marken, is remembered by a waterside monument called "The Wave."
What to see in Marken
- The harbour and the botters, traditional flat-bottomed fishing boats with brown sails, still moored and maintained today.
- The clog workshop, daily demonstrations on a century-old steam engine; look for the brown clogs painted with red roses.
- The house of Sijtje Boes, the "mother of tourism in Marken," whose home is preserved exactly as it was left in 1982.
- The Marker Museum, six connected cottages, a show bed, and the island's famous embroidered costume.
- The Grote Kerk, small but full of model ships hung from the vaults by grateful fishermen.
How to get to Marken
Take bus 315 from Amsterdam Centraal directly to Marken, or cycle the scenic dike route in around an hour. Drivers should park at the village entrance and walk in, the centre is car-free and best explored on foot anyway. For times, tickets and the ferry option, see our full guide on how to get to Marken from Amsterdam.
See it as a walk
Marken rewards slow exploration, and its stories aren't written on the tourist signs. Our Walk around Marken audio tour links all of the above into one gentle hour, with a narrated story that starts as you reach each spot. Download the free app, press play, and let the island tell you its own history.